Bridgeport Metal Goods

[gallonoffuel]

Anyone know anything bout this brand? Picked up this light at the flea market for $0.50 (guy took $1 for this and a 60's vintage Eveready Captain).

What is this? Cree power! :thumbsup:

 

[Mettee]

now that is really cool...

 

[gallonoffuel]

Thanks! The light was originally a 2C with a PR2 base bulb that was housed in a reflector assembly. The top lip of the reflector was broken when I got it, so it would sink down into the body and not make contact. I got a 35mm reflector from DX and a rubber grommet to make it fit snug in the head. Still runs on 2xCs but I have a sleeve to run it on 3xCR123s.

Flashlight Museum doesn't have this particular model, but using the others as a guide I'd say its from the early-mid 60s.

The Eveready I got in the deal had 2 D-cells in it from 1989.

 

[John_Galt]

Wow, looks to be in really good shape for being ~30+ years old. Cool idea, modding it. You really have a sleeper there!

 

[Howecollc]

I have an old BMG chrome 2D which has a tail-cap that looks identical to yours, but with a different style switch and head. Out of all of my grandfather's old lights, it's the only one that had a perfectly clear reflector, and had the smoothest operating switch. Don't know if this is due to quality, or just being used less than the others. It has a glass lens and plastic reflector, and is now running a frosted MagStar 5 cell bulb overdriven to 6.8 watts by 2 AW RCR18500s housed in a piece of foam pipe insulation. The output is a little brighter and somewhat whiter than that of my Surefire 8AX.

My second BMG is an orange Forcelite 6 volt lantern/spotlight, which is the first flashlight ever given to me as "mine and mine alone". I got it sometime in the late 70s, and thrilled fellow Boy Scouts with its throw until the switch went out on it in the mid 80s. One day I'll put a new switch in it, and probably run a ROP low at spec with a 6 volt SLA for shelf life.

Same tailcap as gallonoffuel's.

Switch has momentary postion at half-****.

Frosted MagStar bulb somewhat diffuses the throw-oriented reflector.

"American Made" catchphrase apparently popular by the 70s.

Tire changing mode?

Switch and rubber boot missing for nearly 25 years.

 

[gallonoffuel]

Nice! My reflector/bulb holder assembly was plastic and tin, but my lens was also plastic. Not sure if it's original to the light or not. I have replaced it with a glass lens from DX. I would think that, if original, the plastic lenses would come after the glass ones (cost savings), dating my light later than I originally thought.

 

[Big_Ed]

This is all based on what I thought I read somewhere, so I could be wrong, but Bridgeport Metal Goods sold their flashlight business (or maybe their whole business) to Hipwell Manufacturing in Pittsburgh several years ago. Then a couple years ago, Hipwell went out of business.

If you do a search on Youtube for "Hipwell flashlights", there's a cool video showing how they used to make the old stamped steel lights. Very old looking equipment, probably the same equipment they've used for many decades.

 

[Kirk]

Bridgeport also used to make lipstick "twisty" tubes and the like. In fact, they stopped making flashlights and concentrated on lipstick stuff. Too bad they filed for Chapter 11 in 2004 and eventually went under.
Kirk

 

[Jeritall]

This BMG is the favorite of my collection. It is a 2 D cell, black Navy issue, circa 1941. It is stamped U.S.N. and the sailor who owned it scratched his initials. serial number and the name of his ship, the USS Helena on the barrel. The USS Helena was a "Light Cruiser" commissioned in Sept. 1939, with a crew of 888 men. On December 7th, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, she was torpedoed by the Japanese, killing 20 crewmen and suffering heavy damage. She was repaired and fought in virtually every major battle in the South Pacific, including Guadacanal. On July 5th, 1943 at the Kula Gulf, the U.S. fleet was attacked by the"Japanese Express" and the Helena was sunk killing 168 sailors and officers...Actually the flashlight probably didn't have much of a beam... thick fisheye lens, thin brass barrel, skimpy little bulb...but the stories this little light could tell...Well, it's priceless!!!